Article from the author : EROSS Gábor

Since health reform has an accentuated significance in the Hungarian political context ever since 1988 the relation of the different actors to the reform thinking and to each other is not independent from their positioning in the post-communist setting. Thus, historical path dependency is an influential aspect in the process. Both knowledge production and appropriation related to the health reform is steeped in this massive political self-definitional... Read more ...

The objective of the public action studied by the Hungarian health team was to reduce the number of students with special educational needs [SEN] and to fight the over representation of ethnic Roma and lower class in segregated educational settings (special schools and classes). Read more ...

The dissemination of knowledge can take different forms: launching institutions (the SEMC, the Special Education Methodological Centres) designed for diffusing knowledge and good practices, or fighting bad practices and promoting good practices at the same time (quality assurance through "equality experts" in charge of the LPEEOP); extending state-initiated training programs (targeting both special educators and "regular teachers"), introducing new tests and protocols, as well as new... Read more ...

The paradigm shift can be interpreted as the introduction of novel policy concerns (de-segregation and inclusion) inspired by novel experts, instead of state bureaucratic regulation modes, along with the emergence of conflicting disciplinary knowledges. Read more ...

Knowledge-Policy constellations are either distinct technologies of governance, or, more simply, highly observable crystallized forms of regular interaction that lead to the incorporation of specific SEN related knowledges into the public action. Read more ...

Public coverage of the Last Desk Program can be considered as limited (as compared to parallel government programs); but the contrary could also be true: the issue (of the Roma unduly diagnosed as mentally retarded) had got quite a big publicity. Read more ...

The most popular international instrument of the Educational field, PISA, did not affect the SEN-field (directly): "In the PISA survey the sample‘s margin of error is 5 % and since the rate of SEN children is usually below 5 %, in most of the countries these children were not included in the analysis. It is especially true for countries where these children go to segregated schools or special classes".
But there is a series of SEN-specific international institutions and instruments. The... Read more ...

A lack of public debate, lack of listening to the voice of local actors is the most commonly articulated criticism to the events of the PA, most decisions were made top-down, with very little influence by local actors, especially at the beginning of the program. Read more ...

In an era of post-bureaucratic regulation, transnationalisation and evidence-based policies, the appeal for change in any policy domain is always an appeal for research and expertise (both national and international). Knowledge and cognitive authority legitimize public policies. ―Evidence‖ is often lacking, though. Read more ...